Seriously, who wants to remember 2020? It’s a year that we’re looking forward to seeing only through the rearview mirror where, as everyone knows, objects may be closer than they seem. I have high(er) hopes for 2021, what with the forthcoming change in administration and the availability of two coronavirus vaccines. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll even get out of the house for more than a few minutes at a time, something I haven’t done since March except to buy groceries or walk around the block with my wife.
Nevertheless, it’s time to look back at some of my lists, and I’m starting with publications.
It has been a productive year in terms of getting things into print. I don’t know if there’s been another year when I’ve published as many short stories.
Here’s the list:
- Aeliana, Shining in the Dark, several translated versions including Swedish, Brazilian, French, and Japanese
- Expiration Date, The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths, Mango, June 16, 2020
- Kane and the Candidate, Low Down Dirty Vote, Volume II, July 4, 2020
- The Hound of Bracketville, Places We Fear To Tread, September 2020
- Halloween Funeral, Something Good to Eat, September 28, 2020 (published momentarily and then summarily unpublished!)
- The Fugitive with the Dragon Tattoo, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, October 2020
- Special Delivery: Unnerving Magazine #14, October 24, 2020 (reprint)
- Bloody Sunday, The Book of Extraordinary New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Mango, November 2020
- Reflections of the Past, Mickey Finn Vol. 1: 21st Century Noir, December 14, 2020
- The Lobster Trap, Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories, Level Best Books, December 15, 2020
- An Invisible Christmas Spectacular, Halldark Holidays, Cemetery Gates Media, December 2020
Oh, and “Zombies on a Plane” (as “Zombis en el avión”) from Flight or Fright was nominated for an Ignotus Award, which Locus magazine describes as “the Spanish equivalent of the Hugo Awards.” Category: “Cuento extranjero” (foreign short story). A high honor. I watched the virtual ceremony, which was fun.
In addition to my regular columns in Cemetery Dance magazine and at News from the Dead Zone online, I published my first article in a gardening magazine in 2020! “Bamboozled” appeared in the July/August issue of Texas Gardener. I also wrote an afterword for the SST Publications limited edition of Richard Chizmar’s Gwendy’s Magic Feather.
A little light on reviews this year, for reasons I can’t divulge at this time! However, I did manage to write a few.
- The Outsider (TV review), CD Online, January 10, 2020
- If It Bleeds, CD Online, April 20, 2020
- Of Mice and Minestrone by Joe Lansdale
- Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
- The Chill by Scott Carson
- Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill
- A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin
- Fool Me Twice by Jeff Lindsay
- Creative Types by Tom Bissell
- Just Like You by Nick Hornby
- Cry Baby by Mark Billingham
- Plunge by Joe Hill and Stuart Immonen
- The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
- The Turnout by Megan Abbott
